🤷‍♂️Short (2017)

By Holly Goldberg Sloan

Amazon rating: 4.7/5, grades 3-7

Good Reads: 3.8/5

Common Sense Media: 4/5, ages 8+

4Rbooks: 3/6, grades 6-8

296 pages

Synopsis:

It’s the summer before transitioning to middle school. Julia Marks is still struggling to deal with the loss of her pet dog Ramon six months ago. Her best friends Piper and Kaylee are gone for the summer. To keep her busy, Julia’s mother makes her, and her brother Randy, try out for the theater production of The Wizard of Oz at the local college.

Because she is short, Julia is chosen to be one of the munchkins and a winged monkey, too. Though not initially thrilled to be spending her summer in rehearsals every day, Julie begins to discover that she enjoys the theater and learns everything she can about it. She makes friends with one of the adult munchkins, Olive, and with her neighbor down the street, Mrs. Chang, a talented artist with an interesting background. They, and the director Shawn Barr, become mentors for Julia as she begins to appreciate who she is, including her height.

Finally, it’s opening night and Julia has a massive case of butterflies. Her entire family, best friends, and some teachers from her school are in the audience. Even with her apprehensions, Julie learns she is ready to fly.

Parental Guidance: low (for a middle school read)

Julia takes a sip of champagne at the opening night party after her parents

have taken Randy home.

One of the adult munchkins smokes.

An adult has a fall and is hurt.

There is a story of the little brother jumping off the garage roof attempting

to fly.

Dealing with death is a theme throughout the book. Julia missing her dog

Ramon and one of the adult characters daughters has died.

Julia hears about two different adult dating friendships where one of the

dates is going rowing on the lake. After the final show, Julia asks a boy from her

class if he would like to go rowing with her. (No inuendo, truly rowing in a canoe)

Some of the inner dialogue is definitely that of a “tween” girl on her way to

middle school.

Recommendation:

This book is written in first person. About 50% of the books is Julia thinking inside her head about various events and people in her life. She does this is a very “stream-of-consciousness” style, jumping around from topic to topic, random thought to random thought. This was entertaining, and humorous

early in the book but through the middle it caused the story to drag. I wanted to get on with the story and not have to slog through Julia’s every thought on everything.

I think this would be an interesting read for anyone who is interested in the theater and putting on a play. There is a good amount of “inside info” for actors, directors, and stagehands. I would also imagine a 6-8 grade girl would enjoy the inner dialogue that Julia shares throughout the story, and anyone who is short for their age will appreciate her struggles.

It has it’s moments, but can be a slow, tough read for children who are looking for a little more action in their stories.